305

Directed By: Daniel Holechek
David M. Holechek

Starring: Tim Larson, Brandon Tyra, David Schultz, Sunny Peabody, Ed Portillo, Heaven Peabody, Les Jennings, Nate Hopkins, B.J. Bales, Rene Scheys

The Film

305 is a comedic take-off on 300 that focuses on the story of five misfit Spartans assigned to guard the gate to the goat path while King Leonidas and his army of 300 Spartans hold off the Persian forces at Thermopylae. They are Claudius (Larson), the corpulent leader who handles his men in the grand tradition of corporate middle management, Testicleese (Tyra), the most competent of the five who also appears to be the only one with a gym membership, Darryl (Schultz), the self-obsessed self-proclaimed second in command, Demetrius (S. Peabody), who was blinded in a work-battle related accident, and Shazaam (Portillo), the suspiciously Persian-looking Spartan who assures us that he is from the far eastern part of Sparta. After unexpected success in battle against a Persian scouting party with improvised weapons including a rolling pin and a sharpened carrot, they unwisely decide to abandon their posts to join the rest of the Spartans at Thermopylae. This results in the slaughter of the entire Spartan force when the Persian army outflanks them via the goat path. Ashamed, and shunned by their fellow Spartans, they attempt to move on with their lives with limited success until an ambitious Persian commander kidnaps Claudius in an attempt to wrest the key to Sparta from him. This presents an opportunity for redemption,… or further humiliation, … or both for the ostracized misfit warriors.

305 originated as a five minute short, the basic concept of which could be summed up as "300 meets The Office", which became something of a viral video YouTube phenomenon a year or so ago. For its feature film incarnation, directors Daniel and David Holechek kept the low-budget DIY aesthetic that gave the short its charm. They shot the whole think digitally against green screens with every location and a good number of the props composited and a 300-like amber tint and contrast crush applied via software such as After Effects. The film is not so much a parody of 300 as a low-budget comic romp through its world, although the filmmakers could not resist a sequence spoofing the Ephors and Oracle.

The story, courtesy of co-Director David Holechek and co-star Brandon Tyra, serves as a skeleton from which the filmmakers can hang the cast's amusing faux-documentary talking head improvisations as well as spoofs on their favorite action-adventure movie conventions (my favorite such gag occurs after a battle with a giant and lampoons the use of heroic movie themes). While it drags in spots where the filmmakers spend too much time trying to advance the wafer-thin plot or sell a weak joke, it is usually saved by its constant barrage of varied and good-natured humor. While one occasionally will question the wisdom of the filmmakers indulging themselves with set-pieces that do not lend themselves to shooting against a 30 foot green screen with limited camera angles (like a bar fight), the audaciousness of even trying to pull this off is part of the charm of the enterprise.

The characters have also been expanded from the short to be more than just spoofs on their The Office counterparts. Larson's take on Claudius blends his riff on Steve Carell's Michael Scott with a John Candy-ish everyman likeability and a Steve Martin-ish fondness for the absurd. Similarly, while Schultz's Darryl still clearly owes a lot to Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute, he mixes in a good deal of circa-1950s Daffy Duck selfish slob elements to great comedic effect.

The film is very entertaining for viewers willing to accept it on its purposefully low-rent level. The litmus test will be any of the scenes featuring the cast walking or running in place against moving backgrounds. If this makes you smile, then the film will almost certainly work for you. If all you can do is roll your eyes, then you probably should look for another way to spend the next 85 minutes of your life.

The Video

The film is presented on DVD in a 16:9 enhanced presentation of such clarity that every last seam in the film's production is exposed. In emulation of the look of 300, the image is purposely softened with a sepia tint applied and contrast amped up so that blacks are crushed and whites are on the verge of blooming. Compression is generally quite good with only mild and infrequent digital video artifacts.

The Audio

The soundtrack is presented in an English 2.0 stereo track that has a few rough patches in terms of fidelity, but otherwise belies the film's ultra-low-budget origins to present a more than acceptable stereo mix.

The Extras

Under the "Audio" menu, the viewer has the choice of selecting two full-length running commentaries in addition to the film's soundtrack. The Actors Commentary features Actors Tim Larson, David Schultz, Sunny Peabody, and Ed Portillo as well as actor/writer Brandon Tyra and actor/special effects supervisor Nate Hopkins. This commentary is low on actual conveyed information and high on comic riffing between its participants.

The Filmmakers Commentary features the sibling Director team of David and Daniel Holechek. While it started somewhat slowly, and I was beginning to worry that it would not have any useful information either, it picks up eventually, and includes a lot of interesting discussions of how the film was produced on a shoestring budget. These observations are punctuated with infrequent but amusing digs from one brother to the next.

The rest of the extras are accessible from the "Special Features" menu on the disc. All extras are presented with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound and i 16:9nenhanced video unless otherwise indicated below.

Original Short runs five minutes and is the piece that started it all. Keen observers will notice that they tweaked a photo of Claudius and Leonidas from the short to the feature film to avoid using Gerard Butler's likeness.

Making of 305 runs eight minutes and 20 seconds. It presents the short version of how the film was produced for those not willing to sit through the filmmakers commentary. It includes on-camera comments from Daniel and David Holechek, Sunny Peabody, Davis Schultz, Ed Portillo, Tim Larson, and Brandon Tyra.

Deleted Scenes runs a total of four minutes and 21 seconds. It includes three scenes cut from the film with their digital backgrounds fully composited. Descriptions as follows:

• Torturing Claudius (Persian guard has trouble with torture device and Claudius offers advice)

• You're so Strong, Jim (Claudius converses with an imaginary friend in prison)

• Alternate Ending (Claudius reconciles with ex-wife and other happy endings for the five)

The Lost Interviews runs five minutes and four seconds. It consists of deleted "talking head" segments from Demetrius, Claudius, Daryyl, Shazaam, Aurellia, and Testicleese.

On the Road with the 305 follows the cast and filmmakers to various film festivals in Ogden, Utah, Fargo, ND, Colorado Springs, CO, Palm Beach, FL, and Newport Beach, CA. It is narrated by Hank the Persian, who I believe is played by Tyra.

Cutting Room Floor runs six minutes and 56 seconds. It features outtakes from the film in their raw green screen form. Descriptions as follows:

• Darryl lobbies Testicleese to be assistant leader and gets to carry the map.

• Darryl meets his number one fan

• Alternate Testicleese arriving to rescue Claudius

• Claudius tries to have "the talk" with Testicleese about Aurillia

• The five find out what happened to Leonidas and his army

• Claudius insists that Shazaam is not a Persian

• Testicleese gets read like a book by a bartender

• Testicleese gives an inspiring speech

• Claudius gets pudding in prison

• Claudius talks to Shazaam about the restaurant dress code

• Claudius micromanages Shazaam and gives him menial tasks

• Claudius gives Persian Skippy an acting lesson for a prison production of A Streetcar Named Desire

Visual Effects Featurette/Tutorial runs twelve minutes and eighteen seconds. It shows how a scene from the film is composited with After Effects software with a bit of silly fake Persian language humor worked in courtesy of Nathan Hopkins.

More from Allumination is a group of trailers for films including Moolah, Niagara Motel, Rising Genius, and See This Movie. All are presented in 4:3 letterbox format except for Niagara Motel which is 16:9 enhanced.

Packaging

The film and extras are presented on a single dual-layered disc in a standard Amaray-style case with no insert. The cover art spoofs 300, while the on-disc art features the sculpted torso of Tim Larson as Claudius.

Summary

305 is an amusing diversion aimed at viewers familiar with both the 300 film and The Office television show that are willing to embrace a low budget cartoonish aesthetic. The 16:9 enhanced video and Dolby Digital 2.0 audio are more than acceptable for the source material, and the generous extras give an interesting snapshot of how the first DIY YouTube video to be adapted into a feature film was produced.

Regards,